"to everything there is a season"

Where there is a beginning an ending always follows. Every book ever written has an ending. Good or bad just depends upon what the author wants to see in the ending. Beginnings and endings are provided every day. The fact that we get up in the morning and go to bed at night is a beginning and ending. What you decide to do in the morning when you wake up determines how good or bad your ending is. Many quotes you see on Pinterest or other social media sites say something along the lines of "you make your own destiny" or you are the "master of your fate." Ultimately, the world is telling you that you can make your own ending. I strongly disagree. We do not make our own destines. God does. God decides when it is time to wake up and when it's time to sleep. He decides when it is time to go or time to stay. There is a time for everything and God has that in his total control.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8King James Version (KJV)

1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

6 A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

NOW, don't get me wrong. There are somethings we can change in our lives that might alter how we live but God has already had your life planned since the beginning of time. Now trusting that plan is the hard part. Our human nature wants everything to be plain and easy but that is never how anything actually goes.

For example, I just wanted to stay in high school forever because it was easy, everyone knew me, and I didn't have to spend so much money cause my parents did that! Senior year comes and reality hits me like a truck. Senior year was fun, don't get me wrong, but it was a lot of stress. I had to prepare for a beginning, or what I thought was an ending. Graduation's the next stop on the reality train. I had to face the fact that I was DONE! (Although by that time I was ready to be done with high school.) Even though high school ended, God still created a beginning for me in college. He also included a scholarship that will get me through my associates degree without having to pay a single dime.

The year 2017 has brought me many great beginnings and bittersweet endings. The first being the whole graduation from high school I mentioned. The next was my Pastor, who has been my pastor for all my life, deciding it was time for him to resign from his position as pastor. Starting college was another adventure of 2017. Also, not a life altering ending but quite a sad one, me losing the first instrument I ever played: my piano. (Poor thing was so out of tune. We ended up selling it to a guy who would fix it.)

This past year there were many times where I felt life was ending, not literally, but I felt my life was over. I felt like this year was the year my childhood died. I remember the Sunday before college started I was crying because I thought I would never get to visit with my grandparents anymore and I thought I would never have a life anymore. Boy was I wrong! One thing I have learned is to ALWAYS TRUST GOD! He has a plan.

My Pastor resigning was not an ending but a beginning. (As everything is.) My Dad decided to go for the position of pastor and the church voted him as the next pastor. On August 1, 2017 my Dad was officially the Pastor of the United Pentecostal Church of Wood River. God thought it was time for the season of Pastor Jackson to end so that my Dad could step in for a season. Pastor Jackson now presides as Bishop Jackson of the UPC of Wood River, beginning the start of new season for him.

The Moral

FIRST moral of this blog is to encourage you to trust God with all you heart, mind, and soul. You will not regret it. God is the author of our lives. He calls the shots and his plans always end up panning out eventually. You can't run from God's will.

SECOND thing I want you to get is to embrace life. Every moment of the life you were given. Don't take anything for granted because there will come a time when that season will end. I try to consider this quote, "carpe diem," meaning seize the day, every day of life. God has given you a new year, new month, new day, a new moment, and if you will let him, God will give you new life. Ephesians 2:5, "So he gave us new life because of what Christ has done. He gave us life even when we were dead in sin. God’s grace has saved you."

LASTLY, don't live in fear of the end. Don't anticipate what you think may happen. The worst thing to happen when reading a book is to already know the ending. I personally want to look back at the book, and my life, and reflect upon the chapters, the years, the characters, the friends and family I have come across in my life's book. Anticipate the joy of an ending and the adventure of a new beginning, and remember, that "to everything there is a season."